The Weight of the Crown
The silence stretched on.
One second. Two seconds. Three...
If silence could be counted like numbers, there were exactly forty-four of them here.
Kim Hwang-je, the Fisherman, the Hunter, and Seo Jun-seo.
Along with the forty members of the Righteous Sword Party, all wrapped in perfect quiet.
Naturally, only Kim Hwang-je had the right to break it.
“So let me get this straight. Once the dungeon profits stabilized, you were planning to poison me or take me out head-on?”
No one answered.
Every single one of them was watching Kim Hwang-je’s expression, not daring to breathe wrong.
He had suspected it, but hearing it out loud was absurd.
“Ptooey.”
“Who the hell just spat?”
Kim Hwang-je whipped his head around. The Hunter had lowered his head so deeply it nearly touched the ground.
“Sorry, Your Majesty. I got so angry I clenched my molars too hard and cracked one.”
Sure enough, a bloodied, shattered molar lay on the floor.
The Righteous Sword Party hunters shuddered and drew back in fear.
This was probably the first time they had witnessed such madness.
Or rather, Kim Hwang-je himself was the craziest thing any of them had ever seen.
Only Seo Jun-seo remained calm. He had long since decided not to waste any more mental energy on the eccentric habits of these lunatics.
…Does this guy have anger management issues? If he keeps going like this, what the hell does he expect me to do?
Kim Hwang-je’s own rage, which had been nowhere near as intense as the Hunter’s, suddenly cooled. Let’s drop it.
Right now he needed to ask something a little more useful.
“Do your teeth grow back?”
God, what a stupid question.
“Yes, Your Majesty. This humble one learned the hunting arts of the Dinosaur Faction, so my teeth keep regenerating. To think Your Majesty would worry about someone like me… ugh…”
“Your Majesty. I can also pull teeth out. I’ve picked up a few techniques from the Shark Clan…”
The two of them began grinding their teeth in competition.
Clink.
Kim Hwang-je pulled out his flail again and set it down beside him with a heavy thud.
Both the Hunter and the Fisherman fell instantly silent. The forty hunters of the Righteous Sword Party didn’t even dare breathe.
THEY’RE ALL CRAZY! EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM!
That single thought pierced every hunter’s mind at once.
“Please forgive us!”
Still, the eldest of the group—and the one with the most functioning brain—was Jo Jong-hyun. He dropped to his knees first, pressing his forehead to the ground. The rest of the hunters hurriedly followed suit, kneeling awkwardly.
“What happens if you fail? What if you all get wiped out, or I manage to run away?”
“In the former case, they said they would mobilize the Senate. In the latter, they planned to commission an assassination organization…!”
The old bastard really covered every base.
And what the hell is the Senate?
Kim Hwang-je frowned.
“So you were going to wait until after we finished exploring the dungeon?”
“That was the plan.”
“Hmm…”
Kim Hwang-je crossed his arms and tapped the floor with his foot.
“In any case, you all understand that betrayal is no longer an option, right?”
“Your Majesty. May I say one thing?”
Jo Jong-hyun’s eyes gleamed.
“What is it?”
“As you already know, every one of us was born from a surrogate mother using Jo Chun-ki’s sperm. We competed to survive… and those who lost had their blood drained by him until they died.”
“What? Jo Chun-ki’s a vampire?”
Seo Jun-seo continued the explanation.
“Boss. Jo Chun-ki replaces his own blood with theirs. It’s his so-called secret to eternal youth. He also runs a foundation that manages the blood and organs of the surrogate children.”
“……”
The more you peek into the daily lives of rich, perverted old men, the more disgusting it gets.
Kim Hwang-je cleared his throat.
“So you’re saying you’ll serve me loyally now that you’ve rebelled, and I should trust you more?”
Jo Jong-hyun nodded.
“Although it was a path we chose to survive… if there is truly a way to escape his grasp, we will serve you with everything we have. After all, since we’ve already failed, our fate is to become his spare parts anyway…”
He paused briefly, then added, “That is all I wished to say.”
Huh. Look at this guy.
Is he for real?
Kim Hwang-je narrowed his eyes.
But he still had zero desire to trust them yet.
“I’ll test you first. Then I’ll decide whether to believe you or not.”
“Of course. We will pledge our loyalty to the one who spares our lives.”
ALERT
Your Majesty!
You have received the loyalty of knight-rank individuals.
Well, if it weren’t for his overambitious schemes and filthy personality, he might actually be somewhat useful.
However, his bloodline is rather tainted. Whether to use him until he breaks or rehabilitate him is a choice Your Majesty must make.
Hmm. Pretty harsh review.
Even the eunuch talks like this.
Kim Hwang-je kept reading.
Still, if that is what you desire, investing 100 Dignity Points would also be acceptable.
You may designate the [Garak Kingdom Rebels] as Your Majesty’s second [Vassal State]!
Ah, I’ve heard about this a few times.
But he hadn’t realized he could designate rebels—not even a proper nation—as a [Vassal State].
“Oh! So when the Emperor performs [Investiture], it creates some kind of legitimacy, right?”
If things went well, the legitimate rulers of Garak Kingdom might end up being them instead of Jo Chun-ki.
How dare the Jo clan call themselves the royal family of Gaya?
Kim Hwang-je pressed firmly on the words [Vassal State] floating in his status window and examined them closely.
[Vassal State] applies the [Life Link] effect.
Hunting experience and loot will be automatically converted and distributed.
Skills belonging to individuals of a [Vassal State] can be purchased with cash and used.
When [Rebels] are designated as a [Vassal State], [Treason] will be supported.
If the opposing side learns of this, an irreversible diplomatic breakdown will occur!
Well, the diplomatic breakdown had happened a long, long time ago.
Kim Hwang-je made up his mind.
With this, all their labor now belongs to me!
Designate the Vassal State? [Y/N]
Kim Hwang-je cheerfully pressed Y.
[Vassal State: Garak Traitors] has been established.
[Current Vassal State has no Stronghold.]
[Buffs cannot be applied without a Stronghold.]
A faint, silvery light shimmered gently across the bodies of every hunter gathered here, as well as the supporters back in the command center.
Kim Hwang-je experimentally used [World Observation] on them and gave each one a firm mental poke.
“Ah… ahh?”
Jo Jong-hyun flinched as he sensed something.
He looked up at the sky, but there was only the rustling branches of trees.
“You felt that just now, didn’t you? From now on you are connected to me… and I can watch you whenever I want.”
Like a mischievous child dragging his fingers across piano keys, Kim Hwang-je began poking the hunters one after another inside [World Observation].
“Ahh!”
“Ugh!”
“Eek!”
They twitched and trembled with a variety of reactions.
“But don’t worry too much. I keep my rank evaluations fair. So from now on, throw away any useless thoughts and follow me with peace of mind.”
Their faces clearly said they felt anything but peaceful.
Still, they should be grateful he was letting them live. If they had jumped him from the shadows trying to kill him, they would have had to accept the possibility of ending up like this, right?
Kim Hwang-je resolved to become more ruthless.
Soon, every hunter from the Garak Group dispatched here, along with their support organization, now belonged to Kim Hwang-je.
He could do whatever he wanted with them.
“Yes… Your Majesty.”
Jo Jong-hyun spoke.
Kim Hwang-je nodded in satisfaction and continued.
“Is it okay to put these guys to work, Mr. Seo?”
“Yes, Boss. The fiscal report for Gaya Holdings is at the end of the year. If we use them to find a way to collapse the Gaya Group before then, we can cover up all the minor issues.”
“You heard him. From now on, even though the hunting profits will show up in your accounting books, they all belong to me. Offer everything to me so we can buy weapons and gas.”
“Understood…”
Jo Jong-hyun realized he had drawn the shortest possible straw.
If problems arose later, all the embezzlement would fall on his head.
And it wasn’t pocket change—it was the entire hunting output of a whole hunter squad!
“Boss. Most of the shareholders in Gaya Holdings are hidden behind layers of secrecy. The Myeong-dong loan sharks and Jo Chun-ki’s secret inner circle have buried them deep.”
Gaya Holdings.
As the owner of the holding company, Jo Chun-ki held absolute control over every company in the Gaya Group.
“Those shares definitely won’t be for sale, right?”
“Correct. They are not items that can be traded through normal means.”
“Let’s see… Destroying the Gaya Group in one blow is simple, but ordinary people would suffer.”
If they terrorized factories, innocent workers would die.
“And if we give them an excuse, I’d have to kill soldiers and police with my own hands.”
Kim Hwang-je didn’t want to do that.
“But I’ll find a way. It won’t take long. First, let’s sell the oil and shatter their market dominance.”
“Understood, Boss.”
Kim Hwang-je looked back at the hunters.
So that’s how it is.
Once you’ve got someone by the throat like this, that’s the end of it.
For the first time, Kim Hwang-je truly understood what it meant when people said the state was an organization with a monopoly on violence.
Having violence in his hands made everything so much easier…
So that’s what it was…
It was like something he had read in a comic book.
Business, money, power—they were all just adult games that hid violence and turned it into something easier to handle.
In the end, wasn’t the whole world just a question of how to seize power with the most convincing justification?
Kim Hwang-je thought quietly, then gave a small start.
Ever since I put on the crown, my thoughts have gotten way too brutal…
Was this the process by which power turned people into psychopaths?
Kim Hwang-je shivered.
But he could no longer show weakness.
If this was the weight of the crown, then Kim Hwang-je had to endure it.
He had to live as both an ordinary citizen and a king.
He spoke to Jo Jong-hyun.
“You said you would serve me if there was a way to escape. Your words sound nice, but it’s still too early to believe you. I will give you an order to cultivate the northern plains. I’ll make my judgment after that.”
“The northern plains?”
Kim Hwang-je tossed him a parchment map.
Jo Jong-hyun caught it in surprise and unfolded it.
“Mmm…”
The kingdom’s map was magically printed onto the parchment, elegant and clean.
Adel Royal Castle stood atop a high basin just like Seoul. To the north of the castle lay vast plains where rivers intersected. To the west were mountain ranges, and to the east stretched an endless forest.
Advancing into the forest or mountains was nearly impossible. Therefore, Lavanus’s [Advice] had been to make the reclamation of the plains the kingdom’s primary policy.
It was rather obvious advice, but after listening to the eunuch’s nonsense for so long, how refreshing it felt to hear proper [Advice]!
“See the plains to the north? I’m told there are caves there crawling with insane numbers of monsters.”
Of course, he had never seen them himself.
It wasn’t a dungeon that reset like on Earth, but every cave seemed to be packed full of monsters.
They were all [Overflow-type Nests].
Leave them alone and they would breed endlessly and pour out.
“So purify every last one of those caves and turn the plains back into farmland.”
“Leave it to us. Marine creature extermination is our specialty.”
He nodded confidently.
“Sell the monsters piled up in the plains dungeons to buy weapons and equipment. It should be quite profitable. Don’t hold back on gas or anything else. Use it freely. And if another country… or a monster army shows up, don’t fight them. Just run. You won’t be able to win.”
That was probably true.
Even if they could clear dungeons by releasing poison gas inside, the neighboring countries around the crumbling Adel Kingdom were all far from normal.
Thanks to Lavanus, [World Observation] had reached Lv. 4.
And now he could see the [Kingdom Atlas].
In the past, the kingdom had shared borders on three sides.
But all the other kingdoms had been destroyed, and the once peaceful realms had become inhuman demonic territories.
They had turned into dens of evil ruled by various humanoid monsters.
Even the archipelago spread across the southern sea belonged to the Demon King Izukaya.
Enemies surrounded them on all sides, and dungeons teeming with monsters crawling out of the earth covered their own land.
It was a wonder this country was still standing at all.
So while these men might be able to handle small fry, they could never face elite monsters from other nations.
Jo Jong-hyun didn’t understand most of what was said.
The only thing that kept echoing in his ears was the order to earn their own money and fight their own battles.
Kim Hwang-je continued.
“I’ll pull you out again in a week. Leave only a few support personnel here and take everyone else inside.”
“Yes… understood.”
Jo Jong-hyun patted the shoulder of the large, silent supporter standing beside him.
“I’m counting on you. Secure plenty of supplies.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Kim Hwang-je stretched out his hand and pointed at Jo Jong-hyun, the hunters, the command center, and the trailers.
Shadows rose like waves from every direction and once again hurled them into the forest in front of the royal castle.
The lone supporter sat nervously in front of the computer.
Kim Hwang-je took out a royal messenger pigeon from his pocket and sent it flying toward him.
“A pigeon that looks like this will bring you letters. When it does, gather whatever items are needed and pile them up in front of the caves. I’ll come once a week to take them inside.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Make sure you aren’t discovered.”
“Of course!”
The magically created royal messenger pigeon dissolved into paper and scattered away.
Kim Hwang-je left the command center with Seo Jun-seo, walking in high spirits.
A proper lesson always left one feeling refreshed.
“Will this be all right?”
“If they harbor any evil intentions, the undertaker friend will take care of it.”
“…Ah.”
Seo Jun-seo understood immediately.
“We’ve reclaimed the land and dealt with the Righteous Sword Party. Now let’s prepare to sell the oil. By the way, I’m starving. Don’t you want to eat something?”
Since he had finished the job nicely, Kim Hwang-je felt like treating everyone to a proper feast.